The relationship between sex and headaches

We've all heard the old cliché, "not tonight darling, I have a headache", being trotted out as an excuse by people who want to avoid having sex with their partners.

Some people, however, really do have a headache and shun sex because they believe it will make their pain worse. So, it may come as a surprise to them, that there is a correlation between sexual activity and headaches, or a migraine, that can be good.

If you have ever experienced the excruciating pain and debilitating effect of cluster or migraine headaches, you will be probably be aware that there are numerous medication options available, biofeedback techniques and several alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, massages, herbs, essential oils or dietary changes.

But what if there were also a treatment that came with no risk, and even promised you a good time? What if you could treat migraine with an orgasm?

Over a decade ago, Dr James Couch, a neurology professor studying headache treatments at Southern Illinois University's Headache Clinic, was inspired by one of the female participants. She told him she had trouble curing her headaches since her husband had left her. She did not need a pill, she said, she needed "sex".

He decided to research the relationship between sex and headaches and asked 83 female patients whether they had sexual intercourse during a migraine headache. The study was published in 2001 in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain. Couch and his colleagues found that 47.4 per cent had complete relief, 48.5 per cent had no relief and for 4.1 per cent an orgasm made their headache worse.

More intriguing were the reports that sex could sometimes stop a migraine dead in its tracks, instead of slowly dulling the pain.

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According to a study conducted by American sexologist Beverly Whipple, professor emeritus at Rutgers University, when women masturbated to orgasm "the pain tolerance threshold and pain detection threshold increased significantly by 74.6 per cent and 106.7 per cent respectively". This was based on a measurement by a sensory device designed to produce a report of pressure versus pleasure.

Further confirmation that orgasms can cure headaches came from a study published earlier this year. A team of neurologists from the University of Munster investigated whether there was any substance to anecdotal accounts that having sex could ease symptoms of migraine or cluster headaches.

They recruited 800 migraine sufferers and 200 cluster headache sufferers. The findings are still preliminary, but early results showed that more than half of the migraine sufferers said their pain subsided after having sex with their partners.

The researchers suggested that sex triggers the release of natural chemicals such as oxytocin and endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, which can decrease our perception of all types of pain and reduce or eliminate a headache.

The study was published in Cephalagia, the journal of the International Headache Society. Lead researcher, Dr Stefan Evers, PhD also made a very interesting observation. He concluded that there was no difference in the amount of pain relief between those who had sex and those who had masturbated in the study.

This has to be even better news, since it's not always convenient to have sex with your partner when you get a headache; and not everybody has a regular sex partner in their lives anyway.

With such encouraging results in mind, even if you are on your own, masturbation or my preferred name for it "having solo sex" maybe a great way to deal with your migraine.

And if you do have a willing partner available, it may be time to say: "Yes, tonight darling, I have a headache!"